Interview With Robert Lamptey, Co-founder of Saya(Ghana’s New Mobile Chat App)

Saya Mobile, a Ghanaian software start-up, developing mobile software and services for high-growth mobile telephony markets in Ghana and Africa has launched its first mobile chat app-Saya in Ghana. Saya is a free cross platform chat application that supports group and individual messaging using the user’s phone contacts and Facebook contacts.

Robert Lamptey, Co-founder and CEO of Saya Mobile in an exclusive interview shared this with Alltopstartups after the launch on 20th February 2012.

# You just launched Saya to the public, how did Ghanaians receive the app?
We were really surprised by the response of the Ghanaian public to our product, everyone was excited and very patient with us especially during the demo stage of the launch. There were a lot of encouragements and pats of the back and that felt great considering all the hard work we put into creating and launching Saya in Ghana.

# What is different about Saya and what makes Saya Special compared to Whatsapp, Mxit or Zing?
The difference between Saya and it’s competitors lies in the fact that Saya brings along 3 levels of chat into one application; chat with phone contacts, Facebook friends and location-based chat. Our killer differentiation is StreetChat where we put people together in one chat room based on their location, with this they can discuss just about any topic at all, ranging from developmental issues to where the best restaurant in the area is.

# Mobile Phone usage in Africa has been phenomenal, do you think Saya is strategically positioned
to help Africans chat on their mobile phones instead of sending SMS?
I think that even though mobile phone usage growth in Africa is phenomenal, what strikes me is the availability of data and the growth of an industry based on mobile internet data. I think Saya chat is just one of several applications that will come up if and when mobile internet becomes more available so yes, i think people will use Saya instead of SMS because, it’s cheaper, more intuitive and fun than SMS.

# Can you share with us the number of messages sent after the launch of Saya?
8 days after our launch, our users have sent over 56,000 messages on Saya.

5. Where do you see Saya in the next two years?
In the next 2 years, we want Saya to be installed on over 50 million devices in Africa and beyond.
Saya is available on J2ME, Blackberry, Android, and iOS and can be used to message your Saya and Facebook friends and have anonymous streetchats.

(Left-Robert Lamptey,CEO and Co-Founder/Right-Badu Boahen,Technical Director and Co-Founder of Saya)